Spaceband and method of manufacturing same



June 16, 1953 G.- B11-:GERT

SPACEBAND AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SAME Filed Sept. 13, 1949 IN VEN TOR Patented June 16, 1953 SPACEBAND AND METHOD 'OF MANUFACTURING SAME George Bicgert, Elmhurst, N. Y., assignor to Merygenthaler Linotype Company, a corporation of New York Application September 13, 1949, Serial No. 115,525

2 Claims. 1

This invention relates to justifying spacers or spacebands, such as are used in typographical composing and casting machines known commercially under the trade-mark Linotype, and kindred machines, for the justifying .of composed lines of matrices prior to the casting operations.

'Ihese spacebands ordinarily are formed of two main parts, namely, two oppositely disposed wedge-shaped members, one shorter than the other and known as the stationary part and provided with projecting ears by which it -is held against movement during justification, and the other or longer member which is slidably connected by dovetail portions to the shorter member, so that it may .be forced upward through a composed line in effecting justification.

Heretofore, the dovetail portions of the spacebands have been employed to perform the dual function of guiding the members in their relative movement and holding them against facewise movement. However, due to the smallness in size ofthe dovetail portions, it has been impractical to machine the surfaces thereof by grinding, and although with very careful milling operations, a workable spaceband can be manufactured, it lacks a completely satisfactory close fit of said surfaces or one which Will not unduly impede the sliding action of the members in their relative movements. Moreover, the fit of the dovetail connections obtained by milling, it not accurate enough to obviate to adesirable extent a relative edgewise movement of the members,

which movement tends to cause binding and re,.

sults in excessive wear of the parts and a material shortening of the life of the spaceban The present invention is intended to overcome tirely with the dovetail connections between the two wedge-shaped members and by providing, in pla-ce of them, other connecting means whereby the cost of manufacture of the spacebands may provements, the longer of the two wedge-shaped members of the spaceband is formed with a centrally located longitudinal slot whose side walls are shaped to present opposed flanges coextensive with the bearing surfaces of said mernbery and the shorter member of the spaceband is provided with a raised T-shaped portion or guidepiece riveted or otherwise secured thereto and formed in its opposite edges with grooves which are adapted to slidably engage said flanges when the above and other difiiculties by dispensing en the spaceband is assembled. The taper of the shorter member is machine ground, and after the walls of the grooves in the guide piece have been similarly finished, the latter is secured in place on said member.

The shaping of the side walls of the slot in the longer member of the spaceband to produce the side flanges, is effected by a single milling operation which succeeds the previous piercing, iblanking and trimming operations usually performed in the manufacture of said member. Thereafter, the taper of the longer member is ground and finished to correspond with that of the shorter member. As a result of this latter operation, an aperture is formed in the thinner end portion of the longer member, which is utilized advantageously in a manner and for a purpose later to be pointed out in the detailed description to follow.

Referring to the drawings wherein the parts of the spaceband for the sake of clearness, are

shown on a greatly enlarged scale:

Fig. l is a face view of the improved spaceband, showing the shorter member thereof in its uppermost position and indicating in dotted lines said member in its lowermost position;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing the` opposite side face of the spaceband;

Fig. 3 is a face view of a spaceband ordinarily used in commercial Linotype machines;

Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken on the line 4 4 of Eig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the shorter member of the improved spaceband shown in Fig. l1;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view to show the manner of assembling the two members of the improved spaceband;

Fig. 7 is a vertical section through the shorter member of the improved spaceband showing, in elevation, the raised portion or guide piece of said member; v

Fig. 8 is a horizontal section taken on the line 8--8 of Fig. 1; and n Fig. 9 is a horizontal section taken on the line 9-9 of Fig. 3.

A spaceband of the kind referred to comprises two wedge-shaped members A and B secured together for relative slidable movement, the shorter member A being provided with a pair of projecting ears A1 by means of which it is held against vertical movement during justification. The member A is machine ground and finished along its marginal edges to provide plane bearing surginal surfaces, the member A is formed with a raised complementary wedge-shaped guide piece A2 that cooperates, in a manner hereinafter described, with the longer member B to hold the parts against separation.

The longer wedge-shaped member B has formed in it a longitudinal slot or recess B1 extending substantially throughout the length thereof and terminating at the top, just short of the upper end of the member B, Like the member A, the member B is ground to a good finish along its marginal edges to provide corresponding plane surfaces b which are contiguous to the slot Bl and slidably contact the bearing surfaces a of the member A. When the parts are assembled, the slot Bl is adapted to accommodate the wedgeshaped guide piece A2 of the shorter member and cooperate with it to guide the members in their relative movement during justification.

In order more clearly to appreciate the difference between the improved spaceband and the one ordinarily used, reference is directed to Figs. 3 and 9, the former showing a face View of a standard spaceband and the latter a horizontal section therethrough. In these views, the longer wedge-shaped member is designated C, the shorter member D, the raised portion on the shorter member D1, and the longitudinal slot or recess in the longer wedge member C1. It will be noted that the members C and D are held against lateral separation by a dovetaii sliding connection, the opposed edges of the slot or recess C1 presenting beveled tongues c and thelateral edges of the raised portion Dl being formed with complementary beveled grooves d. During assembly of the parts, the wedge portion D1 is slid into the recess C1 from the open or lower end thereof, and the wedge member C thereafter is provided at this point with a pin c1, which acts as a stop for the shorter member D and thus prevents the parts from sliding apart longitudinally when the spaceband is in use.

According to the present improvements, the raised guide vpiece A2 is riveted or otherwise secured to the shorter wedge member A of the spaceband so that these parts may be separately finished before they are permanently fastened together. The inner face of the guide piece A2 (Fig. vd) is ground to t against the complementary inner face of the member A, and at its upper end it is reduced in width and squared off so as to abut against the upper wall of a rectangular aperture vb1 in the upper end portion of the member B, when the spaceband v(Fig. l) is fully eX- tended.- For-.reasonspresently to appear, the

guide piece A2 at its lower end is rounded off, and` in its lateral edges it is formed with groovesA3 which present machine ground vertical walls a1 perpendicular to the finished bearing surfaces a ofthe member A, and also offset machine ground walls a2 parallel to said bearing surfaces. The longer wedge member B of the improved spaceband is dressed on both side faces and formed with opposed flanges B3, which are flush or coextensive with the inner side `face thereof (Eig. 4)V and constitute the vertical side Walls of the longitudinal slot B1. .The flanges B3 are adapted, when the spaceband is assembled, to have a sliding fit in the grooves A3 of the shorter wedgemember A, and as a result of such mutual engagement, the wedge members are restrained against facewise separation while properly guided in their relative longitudinal movements. l .Inthis connection, it may be noted, by refer ence to Fig. 4, that the flangesB3 slidingly fit between the offset walls a2 of the grooves in the guide piece A2 and the nished inner surfaces a of the member A, and that the edges of said flanges, which actually define the side walls of the slot B1, likewise t against the dressed vertical walls al of said grooves.

The flanges B3 are formed by milling a groove B4 or recess of predetermined depth and slightly wider and longer than the slot B1 in the inner side face of the member B, such operation being performed immediately after said member has been pierced, blanked out and trimmed. The inner side face of the member B then is ground down longitudinally to give the member the proper taper. As a result of this grinding operation, the aperture b1 (already mentioned) is formed in the upper or thin end portion of the member B beyond the now open end of the slot B1. Thereafter, the aperture b1 is lengthened sufficiently in the process of removing the knifelike edges at the contiguous ends of the anges B2, in order to permit the engagement of said.

flanges in the grooves of the guide piece A2 of the other wedge member A when the spaceband is assembled. In assembling the parts, as clearly shown in Fig. 6, the lower rounded end of the guide piece A2 iirst is inserted into the aperture b1 to locate the grooves A3 directly over the flanges B2 and then, by springing the upper thin ex-` tremity of the member B facewise outwardly, the guide piece may be pushed downwardly far enough to effect the engagement of the grooves with the flanges and permit the upper wall of the aperture b1 to snap back over the corresponding edge of the guide piece against the wedge member A. The two wedge members in like manner may be quickly and easily disassembled, an advantage that will be readily recognized when a replacement of either of said members to the exclusion of the other, is demanded.

It also may be mentioned that, since the recess or groove B4 in the member B is formed by a milling operation, as already indicated, the lower end wall of the groove will necessarily conform to the radius of the tool employed and, by its engagement with the correspondingly shaped lower end of the guide piece A2, will serve as a permanent stop to prevent the sliding apart of the two members A and B.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A justifying spaceband including, in combination, a pair of long and short relatively movable complementary wedge-shaped members presenting inner surfaces in bearing contact, the short member being provided Von its inner face 'with a raised portion formed in its opposite edges with machine ground grooves elongated in the direction of movement of the wedge-shaped' members,l said grooves presenting a first pair. of extended guide walls parallel with the inner face of the short member and a second pair of parallel extended guide walls perpendicular to said inner face, and the long member' being formed with a longitudinal slot to accommodate the raised portion of the short member, said slotbeing defined at its opposite edges by machine ground flanges coextensive with the bearing surfaces of the long member, said' flanges present-4 ing opposed parallel edges making extended sliding bearing contact with the second pair of groove Walls formed in the raised portion of the short member to prevent any bodily or tilting edgewise movement of the Wedge-shaped members with reference to each other, and said;

flanges further presenting outer face portions making extended sliding bearing contact with the rst pair of groove walls formed in the raised portion of the short member to prevent an;7 bodily or tilting facewise movement of the Wedgeshaped members with reference to each other.

2. A justifying spaceband according to claim 1. wherein the long member is formed at its thin upper end with an enlarged aperture into which the longitudinal slot opens at its top, said aperture extending entirely through the long member from face to face and of a Width at least as great as the Width of the raised portion of the short member and of a height sufficient by the flexing of the thin upper portion of the 15 Number y long member to permit the raised portion of he short member to be inserted endwise into the aperture from the inner face of the long memberrwith the grooves of the raised portion in g alignment with the upper ends of the flanges dening the opposite edges of the longitudinal slot.

GEORGE BIEGERT.

Number Name Date 1,701,944 Best Feb. 12, 19,29 2,151,367 Allison Mar. 21, 1939 2,151,396 Sperling Mar. 21, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date 610.468 Great Britain Oct. 15.1948 

